Apple’s Presence Sensing System Patent Could Feature In A Future Apple iTV

A recent patent application by Apple suggest that the company is looking to revolutionize our living room with a full-fledge TV. The patent, first spotted by Patently Apple and titled – System and Method for Controlling Output of Content Based on Human Recognition Data Detection. 

“The control of the output of particular content may be based on an action of a rule defined for the particular content, and may be performed when at least one human feature detection related condition of the rule is satisfied,” the patent application states. For example the an adult show on the TV will stop or pause if a child walks into the room.

Patent background:

Many electronic devices provide the ability to sense or detect information from its surroundings when instructed by a user. In particular, many computers, laptops, tablets, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants, and other electronic devices include one or more cameras that can capture still or moving images and/or one or more infrared detectors that can detect heat data. Many of these devices also provide a user with the ability to access content using the device and to alter settings relating to the presentation of the content according to the user’s desire. For example, a user may “login” to an electronic device, access private emails, play an adult-rated movie, halt playing of the movie when a child walks in the room, and perform many other actions using the device depending on the circumstances. However, one or more manual actions must be performed by the user in order to accomplish each of these tasks and, oftentimes, the user may not even be aware that one or more of these actions should be performed (e.g., that playback of an adult-rated movie should be stopped because a child has stepped into the room).

Patently Apple also pointed out that this application appears to be an extension of another patent application –  Apple Advances their Multi-Level Presence Sensing System, which was published in November 2012.

Patently Apple:

Apple that reveals their ongoing work in advancing presence technology. Apple began their work on this project back in October 2009 and followed through with an extensive patent application in December 2011. In their latter application, Apple was exploring the use of Sonar technology and in their current work Apple reveals a number of other sensors being considered such as Radar. According to Apple, Radar is sensitive enough to detect a user’s heartbeat in a room. Another kind of sensor listed could detect carbon dioxide emissions from a user’s breath. The system will provide new and faster “awake” functionality, better power saving modes and even advance display interactions with a user. In one example, Apple states that as a user physically moves toward or away from their display, the imagery on their display will automatically zoom in or out. Being that this is Apple’s third detailed presence related patent, we could safely say that it’s becoming an important trend worth noting going forward.

Apple344

This indicates that Apple is seriously considering this feature in a future product. An the obvious candidate will be a full-fledge Apple TV.

Source

Posted by | Posted at October 28, 2013 14:25 | Tags: , ,
Storm is a technology enthusiast, who resides in the UK. He enjoys reading and writing about technology.

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