Apple was issued a couple of interesting new patents today (spotted by AppleInsider ), including one that could make an iPhone aware of changes in a user’s situation , and alter phone settings accordingly. That would make for a mobile phone that might be able to automatically switch to silent mode when in a movie theatre, for instance, or which could wake from sleep upon being pulled out of a pocket. The patent was originally designed to apply to iPod devices way back in the days of the click wheel controller, but it has been amended to account for wireless mobile devices like the iPhone. The whole point of the invention is to limit GUI requirements for certain functions, and to instead use a device’s sensors, combined with a “situational awareness module” to trigger changes to things like audio settings, music playback and more. It’s a tech that sounds like it could easily go wrong; you obviously wouldn’t want your iPhone screen locking when a set of conditions are met that, while similar to another situation, actually isn’t the same one.
The full story can be read/found on Apple Patents Situational Awareness And Location Information Sharing For Mobile Devices
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