• Mar 31, 2017
• 2 Comments

Texting while driving has been the primary reason of road fatalities off late. Several companies are working out methods to curb the usage of mobile phones while driving. Now, a new patent application filed by apple in 2016 and published this week has come to light which caters to taking care of such concerns. Patent application titled “Detecting Controllers in Vehicles Using Wearable Devices” explains how the smartphone can restrict the message notification if it detects the person driving. The invention is possible via the use of a wearable such as an Apple watch. The embedded sensors in Apple watch is studied to determine whether a person is driving or not and accordingly adjust the notifications he/she receives. In one of the embodiments, Apple also mentions that the invention through Apple Watch will have the ability to ignore any gestures to receive the notification during driving. To simply put, it will ignore the commands of its user for asking to receive such notifications, if the wearable feels that the user is in driving motion. Some of the information can be sent to an in-dash or heads up display or vehicle speakers, thus helping the user stay focused on road. Another interesting feature is the addition of a steering factor taken into consideration to reduce the notification. This equates to basically tracking the Apple Watch’s motion sensors to sense whether the user arms are being moved while maneuvering the car. This is primarily so as to not mistake the passenger as a driver and thus reducing notifications on the passenger’s phone. Citius Minds is a technical consulting firm based out of Chicago. We provide specialized patent analytics and litigation services to patent professionals across the globe. We are highly appreciated and loved by our clients for the following service offerings: | Patent Invalidity Search | Patentability Search | Freedom to Operate Search | Infringement search | Patent Landscape Analysis | Patent Portfolio Analysis | Infringement Contentions | Invalidity Contentions | Prior art search | Rule 11 charts | Source Code review | Pre-litigation analysis | Clearance search | Patent Validity Search |