Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,175,653) for a “watch glow light band” that hints at future Apple Watch bands that glow in the dark.
In the patent filing, Apple says that such watch bands fit user desires’s to customize their watches to express variety and style. Of course, this could also be a safety feature for runners and bikers who exercise in low light conditions.
Here’s Apple’s summary of the invention: “Watch bands with multiple light tubes, each light having a light fiber and at least one light-emitting diode for providing light to each light tube. The light-emitting diode may produce a wide color gamut for the light fiber to produce light in each light tube. Each light-emitting diode may produce a different color and light intensity different from the other light tubes in the watch band.
“The light tubes doubles as the structure for attaching a watch body to a user’s wrist and as a carrier of light to add variety and style to the watch band. The watch band may have a variety of different attachment mechanisms for attaching and securing the watch body to the user’s wrist.”
Of course, Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day. However, you never can tell which ones will materialize in a real product.
