Word on the street has it that Apple might be interested in entering the wearable tech market with a device known as the iWatch, or at least that’s what everyone has dubbed it tentatively for now.
Not much is known about the device, at least officially, but the rumors claim that the iWatch could be a wearable device that would have more a more health-related focus compared to other wearables. In fact some have suggested that the device could monitor aspects of our lives, including sleep!
Now thanks to an Apple patent, it revealed that even back in 2012, Apple was considering the idea of wearables, and we have to wonder if this patent might make its way into the upcoming device.
The patent in question is related to pedometers and basically shows how Apple plans on increasing the accuracy of such a device if it were to be worn on the wrist. Pedometers for the most part are worn on the body, but lately thanks to devices like the Nike FuelBand SE, Jawbone UP, and so on, these wearables are worn on our wrists.
So now instead of merely relying on sensors to detect movement, software is also required in order to decipher the information from the sensors and translate that to measure movement.
According to the patent, it will use a system that will be able to convert motion data into acceleration magnitude and analyze the results to determine a dominant frequency, along with the comparison of peak-to-peak threshold crossings and the amount of time in between. This will allow the system to detect any discrepancies and use that to compare against other collected data to determine if a step is taken.
What this means is that the end result might be one that is more accurate. For the most part we’re not sure if the average user cares if he/she took 100 steps of 105 steps, but for those who are really fitness oriented, these differences might be a big deal. If anything this sounds like a feature that Apple could put into the iWatch, but since the device has yet to be officially confirmed, we guess we have no choice but to wait and see how it pans out.
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