Patently Apple has unearthed a patent filed by Apple which gives a glimpse of the future where devices are “smart” to connect themselves and does not require any fiddling. Last year in September of 2019, a patent filed by Apple showed off a large modular wall unit which could configure smart homes. The patent was filed at the same time when Amazon had introduced its “eero” wireless mesh system, we find it to be a peculiar coincidence.
The vision imprinted in the patent filed by Apple is much grander than that of Amazon’s eero. The patent also discusses the advances made in the “smart home” technology in the recent past. Adding to that, it suggests that harnessing these technologies can greatly improve the user experience by tailoring the use cases.
Apple plan: Make smart home simpler
While smart homes are sort of the thing of the present, they are not exactly easy to configure or use. There is the problem of different brands using their own different services and connections which makes it difficult to combine multiple products. An average consumer faces several problems like connecting devices with different types of connectors which makes the process very complicated.
The future Apple suggests is: if you install a new smart light in your hall, it will automatically appear on your iPhone’s Home app. The smart home system without requiring any manual configuration will understand that the new addition is a “light” and will add to your phone.
The patent weirdly also suggests the use of time of flight (ToF) sensors to generate a 3D map of a user’s home to detect “smart home” units installed. It’s an interesting bit of information as fresh reports of the upcoming iPhone suggest that it will use a time of flight (ToF) sensor for similar purposes.
The future looks exciting as Apple appears to be working on some interesting Augmented Reality (AR) technologies along with smart home technologies.
