Samsung Electronics has recently registered a patent for its portable blood pressure monitor, drawing attention about the possibility of its getting into the tonometer market.

Samsung’s “portable device and method for measuring blood pressure” (inventor: Cho Jae-gul_조재걸) was registered as a patent last Thursday.

Neither Samsung Electronics’ medical equipment division nor Samsung Medicine_{삼성메디슨} making blood pressure kits now. Samsung Electronics won the approval of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) _{식품의약품안전처} for its “card-type blood pressure gauge” that transfers results to a smart phone after the company had conducted a smart care service pilot project in 2011. It has yet to be commercialized, however.

Samsung Electronics participated in the pilot project, held under the auspices of the former Ministry of Knowledge Economy_{지식경제부}(current Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy ), in a consortium with SK Telecom.

The card-type blood pressure gauge doesn’t have a cuff, an air bag that put pressure on the arm, and measures the delivery speed of pulse wave delivered to the end of peripheral nerves through a sensor built in a card-shaped device.

The recently patented technology adopts the same non-pressurizing method and measures blood pressure through the delivery speed of pulse wave by wearing it on the wrist or fingers

"When doctors or nurses check blood pressure at a hospital, blood pressure often goes up because people are nervous. As blood pressure can vary with various conditions, it's hard to get the accurate result in one check,” Cho, the inventor, said in a patent account. “Also, it has become necessary to develop household electronic manometer for people who need to measure blood pressure at home.”

The new device comprises a control unit that turns users’ finger artery blood pressure into their upper arm artery blood pressure and provides the amended figures.

"It is easy to measure and control blood pressure by securing consistency between values from upper arm blood pressure devices measured at hospitals and ones from the wrist- or finger-type blood pressure devices easy to carry,” the inventor said.

Samsung Electronics and Samsung Medicine said they don’t have a plan to commercialize the patent.

“The patent is only the achievement of the researcher and not intended for commercialization,” a Samsung official said. “We don’t have any products or technology for commercialization related to blood pressure kits.”