Apple patent hints at FaceTime for Apple Watch

“Apple is investigating methods of incorporating camera hardware into its Apple Watch product lineup, focusing specifically on systems that avoid the inherent pitfalls of embedding image capturing equipment in a device not well-suited to the task,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.
“According to a patent granted to Apple by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday, the tech giant is looking to broaden the feature set of its wearable by incorporating a novel camera system capable of automatically cropping in on subject matter, tracking objects like a user’s face and generating angle-adjusted avatars for FaceTime calls,” Campbell reports. “Apple’s U.S. Patent No. 10,129,503 for an ‘Image-capturing watch’ details a hardware and software solution that makes a camera-toting Apple Watch not only feasible, but useful. ”
Apple Watch band with camera(s) shown in Apple’s patent application illustration (source: USPTO)
 
“Perhaps most interesting is a contingency for rectifying unflattering ‘up nose’ angles. If a user were to employ Watch in a FaceTime call, and do so without holding the device directly in front of their face as promised by Apple’s auto-cropping tech, the resulting image would at times be captured from a low vantage point,” Campbell reports. “To negate ‘up nose’ shots, Apple proposes outputting a representation of a user’s face that appears to be taken from a straight-on perspective. As noted in the patent, Watch’s onboard processor might generate an angle-corrected image or representation of a user’s face by compiling stored facial data, perhaps information gathered during biometric registration.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Nostril fetishists* will be SOL.
Since Apple Watch Series 2 gave us GPS and freed us from having to schlep along our iPhones on runs, we can’t count the times we’ve wished we had a camera on our Apple Watches. Look at that sunset! Look at that ocean! Look at that three-legged one-eyed dog!
Things like that, not so much the Dick Tracy FaceTime stuff (but that would be cool, too), are why we’re so interested in things like the CMRA Dual-Camera Band for Apple Watch… Dare we dream? – cameras, possibly via an Apple Smartband? — MacDailyNews, October 12, 2017
*Yes, apparently it’s a thing.
SEE ALSO:
Apple Watch cries out for a camera – October 12, 2017
Hello, Dick Tracy! CMRA band delivers two HD cameras to Apple Watch – November 2, 2016