Apple patent involves an integrated media jukebox/physiologic data handling app

Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,315,087) for an “integrated media jukebox and physiologic data handling application.” It could offer hints as to how your Mac will interact with your iPhone and other devices when iTunes is broken up into Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple TV in the upcoming macOS Catalina. The invention especially focuses on exercise tracking features.

Per the patent, a method is provided to operate a computer to interoperate with a portable media player (which could be an iPhone, iPod touch, or even an Apple Watch. The method includes processing signals provided from the portable media player to the computer that are indicative of whether an accessory has been connected to the portable media player, to determine whether the accessory has been connected to the portable media player. 

Based on a determination that the accessory has been connected to the portable media player, physiologic data of a user that was provided to the portable media player from a wireless physiologic data gathering device, is received from the portable media player, into the computer, via the accessory. (Physiology involves your body’s physical and chemical processes.)

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.