Some Mac computer models incorporate FaceTime cameras for making video calls, taking photos, or recording videos. These, in the physical aspect, have been evolving, offering more image quality. For its part, if we focus on the FaceTime service, we can also see how new improvements have been included that enhance the experience, and we no longer have a simple “transparent background” behind us. And now Apple has patented a new system, through which the cameras will be more capable.
Amplifying our physical environment into the virtual, and interacting through gestures, with an Apple device in between is something that we can see more and more. If we look at the case of FaceTime, now the application recognizes different gestures to display visual effects on the screen. The Apple Watch Series 9 now recognizes hand gestures (and you no longer need to touch the screen) to interact. And if we look at the Apple Vision Pro, everything is based on that.
What if we can have this type of interaction with our hands, and bring it to the Mac? By combining this premise with physical cameras, we could have a new way of interacting with the computer and our environment. And yes, this is precisely what one of the latest patents that Apple has managed to register is about.
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This is the name of the document, which is echoed in the English-speaking news outlet Patently Apple. The bases are very simple: Gestures in the air, and the camera focuses on them, in order to have a direct interaction with the team, and in real time, while the video call is in progress.
«The patent reveals that Apple could be working on more types of angles for future MacBooks and iPad Pros, thus eliminating the need to use the iPhone’s camera. And this future system will also allow users to use gestures in the air to control aspects of the system that are not available today,” they explain.
With the goal of video calling versatility and reducing power consumption in computers that require batteries to operate, “Apple’s patent focuses on the use of next-generation camera systems.” Some examples that are disclosed in the document focus on the educational or business sector.
“For FaceTime meetings, brainstorming sessions, or for school work, use hand gestures over an object that a team member wants to present and that is displayed on the MacBook or iPad screen,” they explain.
The latter, in other words, is the possibility of having something on our desktop, zooming with our fingers in the air, and having the Mac or iPad camera focus on the content on which we wanted to zoom in to bring it closer. One of the examples revealed in the document is to enlarge the image of a cup, but it could also be carried out with more objects that we have present around us.
