A couple of weeks back we reported that Samsung's System LSI division has developed a Bio Processor which will significantly improve the health related features of wearable devices and now the company has shared more details about this integrated one-chip solution at its Investors Forum. It's a new solution developed by Samsung and it figures in the company's 2016 technical strategy, meaning that wearable devices with this Bio Processor are likely to hit the market next year.
Most wearable devices today offer some kind of health related features but usually they have different components for different features such as heart rate tracking or measuring skin temperature. Samsung's Bio Processor is an all-in-one solution as this integrated SoC has all required components on a single chip resulting in 80% smaller size and 50% less power consumption while being able to monitor heart rate, perform electrocardiogram as well as measure body fat, galvanic skin response and skin temperature. The Bio Processor also enables the wearable device to be used for access control, since all humans have their own personal heartbeat the device can provide door access control by using that heart beat as the key, though obviously a compatible smart lock will be required for this feature to work. The same can also be put to use for authentication of mobile payments.
Samsung revealed at the International System on Chip Design Conference (ISOCC) 2015 earlier this week that it's actively engaged in discussions with companies that are creating smart wearable devices as it believes the Bio Processor will make those devices much more powerful. We can also expect to see this integrated solution on Samsung's own wearable devices in the coming year.
