If a recently-granted patent makes it into the product—they usually usually don’t—then a future Apple Watch might be able to routinely color-coordinate with any band and even your clothes or equipment.
The patent, filed in July of 2021 and simply granted on August 22, 2023, methods during which a future Apple Watch would possibly be capable of change the colour of its face to match your band, or virtually the rest.
For official Apple watch bands, the machine (the Apple Watch) might determine precisely which band you have got, matching the show to it from a predetermined record. However for non-official bands, or certainly another object like your clothes, purse, jewellery, or equipment Apple has a extra subtle technique in retailer.
The patent describes a light-weight sensor behind the show (just like the ambient gentle sensor on immediately’s Apple Watches). You’d maintain your Apple Watch withstand the item you need to measure (your tie, as an example), and the show would cycle by means of emitting a collection of particular colours whereas the sunshine sensor measures how a lot gentle is mirrored again to it. An algorithm items collectively that information to find out the precise shade.
However that’s not all! Apple even describes utilizing the capacitive show to assist decide the materials of what you’re measuring. This bit from the patent is particularly attention-grabbing:
Along with or as an alternative of gathering person enter to find out the suitable algorithm for figuring out the colour of exterior objects, management circuitry could use a sensor to assist classify exterior object and determine an applicable algorithm for figuring out its shade. For instance, contact sensor could collect capacitive data whereas object is held over show. This capacitive data could also be indicative of the kind of materials that object is manufactured from Supplies with completely different dielectric constants will produce completely different responses from contact sensor
Supplies with a comparatively excessive dielectric fixed resembling steel could end in the next capacitive studying from contact sensor than supplies with a comparatively low dielectric fixed resembling material. After figuring out the kind of materials that object is created from based mostly on the capacitive sensor information from contact sensor, management circuitry could choose which algorithm to make use of based mostly on the kind of materials and/or could in any other case slender down the potential outcomes that an algorithm could produce based mostly on the kind of materials.
In different phrases, completely different supplies require completely different algorithms to appropriately decide their shade. So the capacitive show might be able to decide if a floor is fabric, leather-based, steel, plastic, or one thing else by measuring the resistance on the capacitive contact display screen held in opposition to it. You could possibly think about this additionally getting used within the ensuing watch face; match a steel object, and get a watch face with faux-metal sheen to it, as an example.
It’s unclear if this expertise is feasible utilizing simply the ambient gentle sensor that at present exists on Apple Watches underneath the OLED show. However we’d prefer to remind our readers that Apple information for and is granted patents on a regular basis that by no means make it into any product. This function could by no means come to move, or it could be enabled by a future watchOS replace, doubtlessly restricted to particular Apple Watch fashions.