Apple Patent Wants Power-Saving to be Just a Look Away
Consumer expectation for electronic devices is that they will become ever more useful and multipurpose, allowing them to do more with less. Yet, in each of these devices the power source is both necessary and can sometimes take up too much room in the smaller handheld devices. For this, Apple thinks they have a solution, as outlined in U.S. Patent Application No. 20130135198:
“A method for using a portable electronic device having an accelerometer and gaze detection circuitry, the method comprising: with the accelerometer, determining whether a measured acceleration level for the portable electronic device has exceeded a given threshold value; and when it has been determined that the acceleration level of the portable electronic device has exceeded the given threshold value, disabling the gaze detection circuitry.”
Basically, what happens here is that, with this gaze detection circuitry, your device will know when you are looking at it. And, it will also know when you look away. When it detects that your gaze is focused on your device display screen, it operates at full power; when you look away for time, the computer or other device enters into sleep mode. Of course, this power conservation technique is only effective if your device doesn’t enter into sleep mode prematurely, simply because you got distracted. On the other hand, this could be a good way to help you maintain your focus on needed projects.
Other new Apple patents include U.S. Patent Application No. 20130137462, with which Apple aspires to patent a new way allowing users to share locations–by placing a pin on a map and storing that location as a bookmark. U.S. Patent Application No. 20130129209 introduces a way to detect skin tone in images, a boon for photo manipulation and may be very useful in gaming and other applications.
Contact your Patent Attorney to learn more.
