[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics has recently inked a patent licensing deal with US-based biometric sensor developer Valencell in a move to further expand its presence in the soaring health care wearables market. 

Valencell has a highly cited patent portfolio in optical biometric sensor technology, which includes 35 patents granted and more than 70 additional patents pending.

With the latest patent licensing deal, Samsung is expected to roll out more wearable devices, especially “hearables” like earbuds and headphones that measure blood flow signals to monitor the user’s heart rate and energy expenditure.

Under the deal, Valencell will offer its hearable patents related to its PerformTek Sensor systems to Samsung for use in its upcoming hearable devices.

The solution gives devices the ability to continuously and accurately measure blood flow signals that can be translated into biometric data, including continuous heart rate, resting heart rate, energy expenditure cardiac efficiency.

Valencell has already signed patent licensing deals with several tech firms such as LG Electronics and Sony.

The market for hearables that boast better privacy compared to other wearable devices like wristbands and glasses is estimated to surge to US$16 billion by 2020.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)