The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently published two patent applications from Apple specific to the Apple Watch, and as Patently Apple reported, the possibilities they hold could mean exciting things for the next generation of the device.
The first patent application has to deal with interacting with the Apple Watch physically, either through manipulating the crown button currently seen on the Apple Watch now, or via three new buttons featured on the patent application diagrams. The technology Apple is applying to be patented means the crown button could detect how fast or in what direction the button is being scrolled to, and adapting what the button actually does depending it.
The second patent, which is regarding facilitating access to location-specific information, is the application that showcases a camera being built into the Apple Watch. The intended use of the camera in the application isn’t directly stated, but through context clues, it seems Apple would want the camera to be able to take pictures of barcodes or QR codes without requiring a user to open their iPhone.
The camera could also be be placed anywhere on the Apple Watch, either on the top to act as a selfie camera or on one of its sides to take pictures straight ahead. In other words, imagine pointing your Apple Watch at a row of cereal boxes in the supermarket and automatically pulling up nutrition information.
Will this technology ever be seen in the production version of the Apple Watch? That is for time to tell. While much of the new technologies Apple uses in its current devices popped up in their patent applications before, Apple is under no obligation to include it on the Apple Watch 2 model they decide to bring to market.
Until then, make sure to follow our Apple Watch 2 coverage for rumors and more.
