Nokia, in a recently uncovered patent application, has patented a smartwatch design that incorporates multiple screens that are arrayed in such as way as to make up part of the smartwatch’s “band”. Defined in the patent filing as a “multi-segment wearable accessory”, the smartwatch increases the screen real-estate of the device while avoiding having a single overly-large panel as with other smartwatch designs that have debuted in recent months.

Each of the screens, or segments, can independently display windows of content, so that one screen could be used for viewing messages, another for watching video content or making a video call, and another for showing the time.

Source: Nokia, United States Patent Office

Nokia filed the patent application in August 2013, before it was announced that Microsoft would buy the company’s handset business. Microsoft is believed to be developing its own smartwatch, so it remains to see whether the Nokia multi-segment wearable device will survive the acquisition; We believe that Nokia’s smartwatch design is an intriguing and innovative take on smartwatch design and hope that Microsoft will nurture Nokia’s wearables design team and that the “multi-segment wearable accessory” is brought to market.