A new patent application released on Thursday reveals that Apple will integrate smart fabrics with many sensors and features like the camera and flashing color lighting. The invention could be applied to future devices like smart glasses, a headset, or clothing. This smart fabric integrated with sensors will help users alerting on messages and more.
Apple’s smart fabric not only focuses on iPhone cases but also on smart Apple Watchband. Incorporating smart functionalities into an electric device is not easy. If sufficient care is not taken it might disrupt the structure and even the desired feature making the device unattractive, difficult to use, bulky, or overly complicated.
The smart functionalities include a touch sensor, force sensor, gas sensor, proximity sensor, particulate sensor; a temperature sensor, moisture sensor, humidity sensor, optical sensor, capacitive sensor, a resistive sensor, ambient light sensor, microphone, camera, and another sensor.
The patent application published reveals images that show that how the device will be able to convey information to the users. Regions 40T may be illuminated and sometimes off, and may be flashed on and off to convey information to a user along with two-dimensional touch sensors such as transparent capacitive touch sensors or other sensors which may be overlapped by regions 40R.
Additional functions like mute functions, audio track playback functions can also be applied to the smartwatch band. Other features associated with selectable icons on the band may be used in controlling media playback paired with a set of earbuds, a paired set of wireless speakers, and other devices.
The patent claims; the band, iPhone case or MacBook could be made from layers of material such as fabric, leather or other natural materials, polymer, metal, glass, ceramic, carbon fiber composites, and other fiber composites. Apple proposes that the smart leather will contain circuitry that could light up with color-coded alerts for users when the lid is down.
With the revealed patents Apple’s smart devices future seems to primarily revolve, earlier last week Apple has also published patents on smart-fabrics based on health gloves that will help monitor blood pressure and other user vitals.
