Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) may be readying another run at the wrist-worn health device market it reportedly abandoned in 2016 after its Band device failed to catch on.
The Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant introduced the first Band product in 2014, with sensors that monitor pulse rate, measure calorie burn and track sleep quality. The Band 2 version launched a year later, but Microsoft appeared to quietly abandon the fitness tracker and spiked plans for a Band 3.
But the device might not be dead after all. According to a pair of patents filed last year and first reported by WSFA, the tech giant could still be eyeing the fitness wearables space. One of the patents extends another Microsoft patent for dual ring-shaped, electrically conductive skin sensors, according to the news station.
The second patent indicates that Microsoft could be looking to include a high blood pressure tracker into a device. It covers technology that can estimate blood pressure using data from medical history, radial pulse pressure or aortic pulse wave velocity, the station reported.
Microsoft has stayed mum on its plans for the patents, so it’s anybody’s guess if they augur for another wearable play on its part.