If this were to become a reality, it would bring smartness to the smartwatch.

Smartwatches are cool, but their inherent limitation of a tiny wrist-worn screen, is their Achilles heels and has thus given rise to alternative technologies such as voice commands, gestures and pressure sensitivity.

Samsung seems to think there is another way out – how about moving the display beyond the physical boundaries of the watch? Samsung has now applied for a patent that essentially projects a wearable’s interface, onto any surface, be it your hand or your walls.

The idea is to use sensors that would detect interactions that are outside of your wrist, including the geometry of your hand, and adapt the interface to that area. Once the interface is projected onto your palm, and if you were to open it, extra buttons could appear on your fingers.

Before you remove your smartwatch and toss it out of the windows, do note that, like all other patents, this is still in the concept stage. There is no word of a roadmap to a product yet.

In fact, there is no certainty that Samsung will even implement this idea or has the necessary technological capability to make this into a reality.

Still, it is heartening to see companies exploring future input options for the wearables market and not just limit it to a touchscreen. The market is still young and there is still plenty of room for new ideas to fuel an interface breakthrough.