Apple has filed for a patent (number US 20230115250 A1) for “user interfaces for providing live video” in its Keynote presentation app.
About the patent filing
Obviously, a presentation may have numerous slides, among which a presenter can switch while presenting. However, Apple says that some techniques for playback of video in presentations are limited in the manner in which video can be provided.
For example, some existing techniques require that video be composited into slides of a presentation, which may require relatively high amounts of computational resources as well as preclude the use of live video in such presentations.
Apple wants to perfect a technique that provides Macs, iPhones, and iPads with faster, more efficient methods and interfaces for providing live video. Such methods and interfaces optionally complement or replace other methods for providing live video.
Apple says that such methods reduce the cognitive burden on a user and produce a more efficient human-machine interface, for instance, by reducing the number of inputs required by provide live video. For battery-operated computing devices, such methods and interfaces conserve power and increase the time between battery charges.
Summary of the patent filing
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “The present disclosure generally relates to providing live video. An example method includes, at a computer system, while in an editing mode for a presentation, receiving, via one or more input devices, a request to insert an object onto a first slide of the presentation, wherein the request includes associating the object with a source for live video; and while in a presentation mode for the presentation, displaying, via a display generation component, the first slide including concurrent display of the object and one or more visual elements, wherein: in accordance with a determination that the object is associated with a camera, the object includes a live video stream from the camera; and in accordance with a determination that the object is associated with a non-camera external device, the object includes a live video stream that mirrors a portion of a display of the non-camera external device.
