A new patent granted to Apple by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (U.S. Patent and Trademark Officeor USPTO) describes the use of a chip NFCNear field communicationor proximity field communication.”>1 on the end of a bracelet for the Apple Watch that would communicate with another such component on the watch to activate a series of functions.
This solution, according to the description made by Apple, would make it possible to identify the model of the bracelet attached to the smartwatch without having to supply power to the accessory. A possible application for this technology would be, for example, checking whether the bracelet the user is using is an Apple authorized model or not.
Another possibility would be to use this chip-to-chip communication to enable watchOS features. An example would be automatically changing the color scheme of a watch face to match the hue of the bracelet as soon as it is recognized by the system.
This would also open up scope for the development of bracelets made for specific activities. In this way, the Apple Watch would be able to open an app automatically whenever a bracelet is detected or activate the Water Lock mode whenever a bracelet for swimming is inserted by the user, for example.
The patent also mentions the possibility that the bracelets have extra sensors that could be accessed by the watch to increase the device’s range of functionalities. Among the components cited are biometric, gesture and motion sensors, as well as parts for haptic feedback, external batteries and more.
Among the engineers credited as the inventors of the patent, it is worth noting, is Daniel J. Hiemstra, known for working on the development of the antennas for the Apple Watch.
Is there a new aspect of the MFi program coming?Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod…“>2?
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via Patently Apple