Samsung trademarks what may be a new in-house ToF sensor

No premium or premium mid-range phone, at least, seems capable of going without a depth-sensor of some kind among its camera array. These sensors may be of the time-of-flight (ToF) variety, or something more along the lines of Apple's TrueDepth system that enables Face ID.

Samsung was among the first OEMs to include this kind of camera into its flagships, although it did not make these modules itself as it does most others.

However, this may be about to change, as a new trademarking application made by the company may show. It is for the name "ISOCELL Vizion", thus indicating it is a new addition to Samsung's high-powered mobile device cameras. This new claim was filed with the European Union's intellectual property office (EUIPO) on September 18, 2020.

It falls into a category that includes ToF modules, in addition to others such as motion-detectors and dynamic vision sensors (DVS), which "detect the shape, proximity, movement, color and behavior of humans".

Therefore, the blog that initially discovered the new document, LetsGoDigital, proposes it is most likely the first of those three, and may have been developed by Samsung for improved 3D imaging in its future smartphones.

To date, it is not clear which device might get this new proprietary technology, although the Galaxy S21 series may be a good candidate.