Apple patent is for a remote camera user interface for taking ‘selfies’

Apple has been granted a patent (number 9,973,674) for a remote camera user interface. The goal: to make it easier to take “selfies” on your devices (especially the iPhone).

In the patent filing, Apple notes that cameras, no longer limited to dedicated electronic devices, are typically within hands reach at all times. A camera may be conveniently included in any of a variety of portable electronic devices, including smartphones, tablet computers, and laptop computers, reducing the number of separate devices carried by a user.

Whether for use with separate digital cameras or electronic devices with integrated cameras, camera operators are faced with a problem: exclusion from their own captured images. Dedicated remote camera control devices are available, but in contrast to the convenience of including a camera in portable electronic devices, a dedicated remote camera control is typically a large additional item for a user to carry. Apple wants to solve this problem (and actually already has) via software.

Here’s the summary of the invention: “At an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display, a remote camera control user interface may be displayed. In some examples, a user may provide input through a gesture at a location corresponding to the touch-sensitive display and/or through a rotation of a rotatable input mechanism to control a camera of an external device. Camera control may include control of the external device’s camera features, including image capture, zoom settings, focus settings, flash settings, and timer settings, for example, and may also include access to the external device’s library of previously captured images.”

Apple 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.

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