Apple invention is for a ‘user interface for phone call routing among devices’

Apple has filed for a patent (number 20180234549) for a “user interface for phone call routing among devices.” It involves the current (and future?) tech behind Continuity, which allow various Apple devices to work together so that, for instance, you can make and receive phone calls on your Mac without picking up your iPhone.

In the patent filing, Apple notes that electronic devices that provide communications capabilities (e.g., voice, text, and/or video communications) come in various form factors (e.g., phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, etc.). However, “transferring a call from a phone to a tablet, for example, may be impossible in many cases.” But not with our favorite tech company?

Here’s Apple’s summary of the invention: “A first electronic device receives a phone call that was routed to the first electronic device by a call-routing service. While receiving the call, the first electronic device receives a request to route the phone call to a second electronic device. In response to receiving the request to route the phone call to the second electronic device, in accordance with a determination that a first routing criteria have been met, the first electronic device sends a request to the call-routing service to route the phone call to the second electronic device instead of routing the phone call to the first electronic device. In accordance with a determination that a second routing criteria have been met, the first electronic device causes call data associated with the call to be routed through the first electronic device to the second electronic device.”

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.