Samsung Files Patent for a Floating Screen That Watches Your Hand Through the Glass
Samsung's filing describes an image that hangs in the air in front of a screen, with a hidden sensor that can see your hand exactly where the image floats. The odd starting move is that the device flips the picture upside down on purpose.
What Samsung's floating-screen patent does
You're at a self-service kiosk and a menu button seems to hang in the air about a foot in front of the glass. You reach out to tap it, but your finger meets nothing, so you can't tell whether the machine noticed. That's the basic puzzle with floating screens, and this Samsung patent application goes after it.
The filing describes a display that uses a clear plate and a lens to make an image look like it's hovering in front of the device. Because the optics turn the picture upside down, the device flips it both ways first, so it ends up looking normal to you.
The same plate also carries light back to a small hidden sensor, so the device can see your hand right where the image floats. It can then show a cursor that sharpens as your finger gets closer.
… a waveguide comprising a first optical coupling area configured to direct the light of the flipped image provided from the optical engine to be incident into the waveguide and a second optical coupling area configured to emit the light of the flipped image incident through the first optical coupling area to outside …
Translation: A special piece of glass channels the projected light through internal paths before sending it out to your eyes.
How the flipped image lands right-side up
The core claim covers a processor that takes an image and flips it horizontally and vertically before anything is shown. An optical engine (a tiny projector) sends the light of that flipped picture into a waveguide, a thin clear plate that carries light along inside it by bouncing it off its surfaces.
Light enters through a first optical coupling area (a patterned spot that steers light into the plate) and leaves through a second one on the front. A lens in front of the plate then focuses the light onto a virtual projection plane, the spot in midair where the picture appears to float. The lens inverts the image, which cancels out the earlier flip, so you see the original picture the right way up.
Other claims add the hand tracking. A third coupling area sends outside light back through the plate to an image sensor, retracing the path the picture took. That means the camera focuses sharply on the floating plane, right where your hand will be. The device can then:
- Recognize gestures, such as a swipe, made on the floating image.
- Judge how far your hand is from the plane by how blurry it looks, and show an indicator that reflects that distance.
- Run a calibration with several target points to build a transform matrix (a set of numbers that converts your hand position into positions on the floating image), and redo it when it detects drift or repeated missed taps.
… a lens configured to provide the virtual image in which the input image is floating on a virtual projection plane by focusing the light of the flipped image emitted through the second optical coupling area into an inverted image on the virtual projection plane …
Translation: A front lens focuses the light so the picture appears to hang suspended in the open air.
Why floating buttons need a hand-tracking trick
The practical payoff would be a floating button that reacts when you reach for it. The filing lists many possible devices, from smartphones and monitors to head-up displays and digital signage, so the idea isn't tied to one product. Hiding the sensor behind the plate also means no visible camera opening, which the filing says helps keep the device thinner and lighter.
The description also admits that a floating image looks a little different to each person, depending on eye spacing and head position. That is why the patent builds in a calibration step for every user, and a way to correct it while you use the device. Without that, a tap you aim at one spot could land somewhere else.
Samsung's 132nd filing we've tracked since May in our display technology watchlist follows earlier applications like one on moisture-sealing holes and one distinguishing hover from touch.
Pressing a button you cannot feel is more frustrating than it sounds. Miss a tap on a touchscreen and you get a click or a vibration to tell you something went wrong. Miss a tap on a floating light image and you get nothing, so you keep poking at air while the device silently ignores you.
The filing attacks that specific cost directly. The camera shares the same plate as the image projector, so it already knows where your hand should be. A cursor grows sharper as your finger moves closer, giving you the feedback a physical button would have provided by feel.
The document stays quiet on bright sunlight and crowded spaces, so those remain open questions. Within the problem it sets out to solve, though, the approach matches the frustration it targets.
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The drawings
43 drawing sheets from US 2026/0349527 A1 · click any drawing to enlarge
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