Apple thinks it would be cool if you owned multiple Apple Watches. So the tech giant is looking into ways to “track activity data between wearable devices paired with a companion” as evidenced by a new patent filing (number 20,469,647).
In the patent filing, Apple notes that a smart watch can be configured to work with a smartphone or tablet computer such as an iPhone or iPad for example to provide health tracking functions and potentially other capabilities. This health data can provide information that relates to a streak of a physical activity such as a streak of several consecutive days in which a user, who has worn the accessory, has moved (e.g. walked) more than a predetermined distance (e.g. over one mile) each day. Thus, the accessory can keep track of such a streak while the user wears the accessory over a period of time. And if you want to pony up for multiple Apple Watches, Apple wants to make it easy to sync data between them.
Here’s the summary of the invention: “A set of wearable devices, each paired with a companion device, are configured to cumulatively maintain data about physical activities even though a user may switch between wearing them over a period of time. For example, a streak of workouts over many days can be maintained while the user switches between two watches over that period of time.”
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.
