A newly-published patent application suggests that Apple is working on a new version of itsFaceTime video callingsoftware that could detect your hand gestures and more.
The new feature, which would add to existing FaceTime capabilities includingSharePlay, could also potentially track handwritten notes and drawings on paper and then project them into the call. This would be beyond existing capabilities offered by the Freeform app that gives users a digital and collaborative whiteboard. In this patent, analogue notes would be created on paper and FaceTime would then show those notes on-screen.
Are FaceTime upgrades ahead?
The patent was recently shared by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and spotted byPatently Apple. The patent itself includes more than 140 drawings of how the new feature could work, including representations of what people might see on-screen during a FaceTime call.
One example given shows a user making a hand gesture in the air that would then cause FaceTime to zoom in to a predefined level. That zoom could be on an object that is being shown, for example.
The patent describes the user performing a “spread gesture” by increasing the distance between their thumb and index finger. That gesture would then tell the device’s camera to zoom in on something that the user is trying to show to another member of the FaceTime call.
The same patent also describes an instance where the FaceTime camera could be used to capture drawings or notes that the user is making on the desk in front of them. That could be hugely helpful in meetings where participants need to be able to share ideas more easily.
The examples sued by Apple in this patent show iPads and Macs being used as the FaceTime apparatus, but there seems to be little reason why an iPhone couldn’t be capable of doing something similar in the future.
It’s important to remember that not all Apple patents turn into products or features, however. And while the length and number of images included in this particular patent suggest it’s something Apple spent a great amount of time on, we might never see this ship. Apple patents just about everything its developers and engineers come up with.
you’re able to read more about this particular patent on thePatent Office’s website.
