LG to examine its 2009 eye-tracking patents for infringement by the Samsung Galaxy S 4
The competition between the two Korean electronics giants Samsung and LG is heating up, and is likely to deepen with Google placing bets on LG for its Nexus phones, and Sammy outing a Tizen-powered handset later this year.
The latest kerfuffle is reportedly around the eye-tracking tech that Samsung uses for features like Smart Pause in the Galaxy S 4, that freezes video playback when it senses you are looking away from the display.
LG is updating its flagship Optimus G Pro with a similar feature called Smart Video next month, but it actually filed patents for the pupil-recognition technology way back in 2009, adding to a portfolio of eye- and head-tracking algorithms, that started to accrue since 2005.
Now LG is reportedly planning to examine whether the subsequent Samsung patents on the matter don't infringe on its portfolio, which Samsung, naturally, is said to deny with a passion. There are plenty of other overlaps in our opinion, like the Dual Recording mode from the G Pro that we saw materializing as Dual Camera during the announcement of the Galaxy S 4 last week, so the story is bound to get better.
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